We could say that the Buddha was teaching us to breath again. It’s said that the prince Siddhartha was sitting under a Bodhi tree, practicing the anapanasati (the mindfulness of breathing) when he gained enlightenment and became awake, a Buddha. He was aware of the whole experience of breathing. Through breathing he trained the mind to be sensitive to the body, rapture, pleasure, the mind, mental processes, impermanence, dispassion, cessation, relinquishment. And while breathing he learned to release the mind from suffering. In this session we explore turning towards experience with breathing.
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The Out Breath: Unlocking Concentration
Recorded :
June 16, 2024 Shodo Harada Roshi is known as a “teacher of teachers”, with masters from various lineages coming to sit with him in Japan. If you went to Harada’s monastery, the main meditation technique you’d learn involves slowing the out breath to last one minute. This drastically slows down your physiology, which in turn settles the mind.
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with James Rafael – Week of January 8, 2024
This week’s topic is “New Year Habits and Hindrances”. In this week’s sessions we’ll explore how engaging with the Buddha’s teachings on the ‘5 Hindrances’ can help establish or deepen the habit of a daily meditation practice.
If you’re new to meditation, this framework offers ways to engage with common challenges we may face; “I can’t sit still’, “My mind is just too busy”, “I’m just not sure if this is working”.
If you have a consistent, established practice, revisiting the hindrances can be a gateway to access deeper levels of concentration (samatha), and the subsequent, often profound, insight (vipassana) which follows.
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Mindfulness, Samadhi, Insight and Patriarchy: Seeing and Not Seeing Things As They Actually Are
Recorded :
April 23, 2023 When the mind is both bright and still, it sees things that are usually hidden to it. And there are things it does not see. And there can be apprehensions that change everything, and those that change little. Gregory will speak about meditative insight, deep personal and cultural conditioning, and other things about which he…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Caverly Morgan – Week of April 6
We’re very grateful to have Caverly Morgan hosting our Daily Meditation Series for North America. To find out more about Caverly, and to view her past recordings and contributions to Sangha Live, click here. Monday, April 6 Becoming the ocean of awareness and acceptance Wednesday, April 8 Resting together in our shared being Tuesday, April…
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Mindful Inquiry: A Path of Freedom and Joyful Responsibility
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January 20, 2019 Mindful Inquiry is the path of asking the question that points to freedom. This practice can support even long-time practitioners to find more relief from suffering and clarity about the ever-present wholeness of True Nature. A good teacher can point the way, but it is up to each of us to take responsibility for our…
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The Wisdom of No Escape
Recorded :
February 16, 2020 Our lives include facing things we didn’t choose, and often cannot change; such as getting ill or injured, or loosing something or someone that we love. Dharma teachings invite us to turn towards these, instead of turning away from them. What is the wisdom that is available to us when we meet our experience with…
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The nature and practice of right view.
Recorded :
January 3, 2016 If there is one practice that defines the quality of the Buddha’s teachings, it is right view. This is a wisdom path. Right view is the beginning and ending of the path. Right view comes first among the eight path factors because it is needed for the entire path. Right view can be described as…
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Daily Meditation Recordings, with Nathan Glyde – Week of 07 July, 2025
We are delighted to have Nathan Glyde leading our Daily Meditation sessions this week. May they bring depth and ease to your practice.
This week’s theme is: Caring Resolve
Relieving suffering is the essential task of Buddha-Dharma, applicable to our inner and outer world. This calls for a spacious intimacy that is neither distant and indifferent, nor enmeshed and overwhelmed. Meeting pain with caring resolve loosens distress into ease, transforms reactivity into response, and liberates the limited heart into boundless connection.
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